Unit 1 Music Theory Episode 2 Meter Organizing the beat 1OVERVIEW Meter determines how many beats are in a measure. To reinforce meters of 2, 3, and 4, Quaver and his assistants engage in a se- ries of bubble-popping, bucket-walking, and pretzel-snapping experiments. Along the way, he marches with a color guard, visits a dance studio, crowd-surfs at a rock concert, and observes a conductor at work. The house band performs a song featuring both meters of 2 and 3 as Quaver counts the beats. LESSON OBJECTIVES Students will learn: • Meter is the organization of beats, usually into measures of 2, 3, and 4 beats. • Meters of 2 can be joined to create a meter of 4. • Meters of 2 and 3 create distinctively different effects upon music. • Meter determines the pattern conductors use to lead an orchestra. Vocabulary Meter Meter of 2 Meter of 3 Meter of 4 Strong beat Weak beat March Waltz © Quaver’s Marvelous World of Music • 2-1 Unit 1 Music Theory MUSIC STANDARDS IN LESSON 1: Singing alone and with others* 5: Reading and notating music 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music 7: Evaluating music and music performance Complete details at QuaverMusic.com Key Scenes Music What they teach Standard 1 Organizing bubble-beats Meter is the way beats are organized. 6 2 Review of strong and weak The first beat in a measure is called the strong beat. The 6 beats beats that follow are called the weak beats. 3 Bucket-walking, pretzel-snap- Beats are usually organized in meters of 2, 3, and 4. Each 6 ping and balloon-popping meter gives music a different feel. 4 Phone box adventures to Different types of music use different meters: a march is 7 count meters typically set to a meter of 2; a waltz requires a meter of 3; and most rock music is written in a meter of 4. 5 Song: Can You Feel the Meter? This song utilizes both meters of 2 and 3. 6 LESSON INTRO Introducing the episode 2 Invite students to chant a rhyme that has a predictable beat such as Yankee Doodle while they clap along. Ask them if there are any claps that feel louder than the others. Count 1-2, 1-2 while students chant it a second time. Explain that in Yankee Doodle, the beats are organized into groups of 2, meaning every other beat is a louder clap. Then tell them you will talk in beats organized into groups of 3, meaning after every loud clap there are two quieter claps. Example: I-will-now, talk-to-you, u-sing-some, beats-in-a, me-ter-of th-re-e. In this episode Quaver defines meter – how beats are organized into groups. 2-2 • QuaverMusic.com * concepts included in the Teacher Guide, but not in the DVD Meter PLAY EPISODE Discussion Points 3 • Which is the word that describes how beats are organized in a measure? meter • Which meters were explored in this episode? 2, 3, and 4 • Which meter works well for a march? meter of 2 • Which meter works well for a waltz? meter of 3 4CLASS ACTIVITIES Meter Dancing Tracks 1 & 2 Purpose: Combining movement with meter Instruct students to work out rhythmic movements or dances while listening to the following tracks. Techno Two (Track 1) is in a meter of 2, and Alpine Waltz (Track 2) is in a meter of 3. Materials Needed Play the Strong Beat - Hand drums or Purpose: Playing a beat in a meter homemade drums Using hands as drums or homemade drums have students establish - Drumsticks strong and weak beats by making the first beat louder than the following - Pencils beats. Play the strong beat along with the rhymes and songs in varying - Bouncy balls meters. Play the strong beats on the head of the drum and then add weak beats on the rim to establish every beat, then add variations. This is a wonderful precursor to playing more complicated rhythms on the drums. Stick Pass Tracks 3 & 4 Purpose: Coordination, teamwork, and meter Instruct students to sit in a circle on the floor. Give each student a beater (for example, a drumstick or pencil) to hold in his/her right hand. With the beater, students will perform the following actions: Tap - Tap the floor in front of you with the stick Pass - Pass the stick to the person to your right Grab - Take the stick from the person on your left The Speeding Turtles (Track 3) is in a meter of 4 and requires this pattern: tap-tap-pass-grab. For The Whizzy Waltz (Track 4) which is in a meter of 3, the pattern is: tap-pass-grab. Playing each track several times may be required for students to accomplish the meter motions fluidly. Note: Try dividing your students into partners, allowing them to create new patterns with their beaters. 2-3 Unit 1 Music Theory Bounce The Beat Tracks 5, 6 & 7 Purpose: Beat and meter relationships Each student is given a bouncy ball. The teacher leads the class in bounce catch patterns of 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s. Students should perform tasks by using both hands, right hand, left hand, and alternating hands. Start with 4’s in a bounce-catch-wait-wait pattern using Country Patterns (Track 5), then 3’s in a bounce-catch-wait pattern Elephant Walk (Track 6), and lastly 2’s in bounce-catch-bounce-catch Fife and Drum (Track 7). Teacher can rein- force the beat by playing a drum along with the tracks. Tracks 8, 9 & 10 IWB 1 VIDEO REPLAY Conducting Purpose: Show how conductors use meter Using the conductor footage from the epi- sode as a tutorial, teach students to conduct with pencils serving as batons. Demonstrate the down-up pattern for conducting in 2’s. Listen to Bizet’s Carmen, March of the Toreador (Track 8) and have them conduct to the music. Then teach the down-out-up (triangle) pattern for 3’s using Daisy, Daisy (Track 9). For 4 beats, the pattern is down-in-out-up. It’s fun conducting to Handel’s Messiah, Hallelujah (Track 10). Demonstrate dynamics by conducting larger pat- terns for louder passages and smaller patterns for softer passages. 5WEB ACTIVITIES EarIQ Time Venues Students can train their musical ear Have students travel back in time to by listening to music composed in a see Bach playing a minuet in a meter variety of meters and gaining points of 3. Encourage them to tap their feet for deciding what meter is being and fingers to the beat of Bach’s mu- used. sic. Play activities on your IWB INTERACTIVE White Board 2-4 • QuaverMusic.com Meter Make sure to give students a preparatory measure (2, 3, or 4 beats) before starting a rhythmic activity. 6 HOMEWORK Worksheet # 1 PRINTPRINT Crazy Meters WOWORKRKSHEETSHEET Purpose: Clapping in different meters To evaluate students’ understanding of meters, ask them to complete this worksheet and return it at the next session. The worksheet requires them to draw measure lines, color the strong beats, and clap the meter, being careful to clap louder on the strong beat. Encourage students to ask their parents to clap the crazy meters with them. Beat Out The Meter Purpose: Finding the meter in everyday life Assign students to practice walking in a meter of 2 by stepping with one foot louder than the other. Ask them to walk in a meter of 3 by using an umbrella, cane, or similar object for the strong beat and their two feet as the weak beats. For a meter of 4, challenge students to come up with their own unique way of practicing the meter. Encourage them to listen to all the rhythms in the world around them and give a report of sounds that are organized into meters. Examples might include windshield wipers or a train going along the tracks. Additional session activities 7 ASSESSMENT Be a Meter Reader Tracks 11, 12, 13 & 14 Play the following tracks and ask students to find the steady beat. Have them hold up two, three, or four fingers depending on the meter of the piece. Track 11 Daddy’s Girl - meter of 3 Track 12 Spanish Gold - meter of 2 Track 13 Parachute - meter of 4 Track 14 Western Skies - meter of 4 2-5 Unit 1 Music Theory 8 CROSS-CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES History Tracks 15 & 16 During the Baroque period (1600-1750), people created dances to go with the music. Today, as we dress up to go to the theater, people of the Baroque era would attend dances in fancy ball gowns and suits. Each Baroque dance was part of a suite of dances. Each dance within the suite was written in a specific meter, which made each dance different. A minuet was in a slow meter of 3, whereas a gavotte was in moderate meter of 2. Handel provides examples of both. Have students listen care- fully to Handel’s Minuet from Berenice (Track 15) and Gigues I and II from Water Music (Track 16), and pat along to the beat. Then have students find partners and come up with dance moves to each meter. Language Arts Read short poems and determine if the words seem to have a feeling of 2 beats (strong, weak) or 3 beats (strong, weak, weak). Like music, poetry is often written in meter. Here’s an example of a strong/weak meter: Peas porridge hot. Peas porridge cold. Peas porridge in-the pot Nine days o-ld.